


bloodletting

by Loki_Laufeyson



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, Releves ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 16:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loki_Laufeyson/pseuds/Loki_Laufeyson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A drabble in which Abigail Hobbs dies and continues to survive</p>
            </blockquote>





	bloodletting

**Author's Note:**

> because I cannot even entertain the notion that Abigail might be dead

“You are no longer Abigail Hobbs.”

He demands of her in that lilting voice of his. That deceptively soft tone which wraps itself so gently around your throat that you don’t even notice it’s killing you until the air has been stolen from your withered lungs. 

Not even a breath left to plead with. 

And so Abigail doesn't try, she only purses her lips as Hannibal pushes a needle into her forearm. 

A pint is all he needs, he says, perhaps two. Just enough to make it look as if Will Graham (whose life they are tearing down and therefore who she desperately attempts not think of) finished what her father could not. Enough to decorate the counters and soak into the floor. One way or another, Abigail Hobbs is destined to die in this kitchen, to be consumed by this house.

“Who am I?” she eventually asks, certainly not for the first time, not even for the first time in this room in this house in the face of death. Just the first time to him. 

The question makes his eyes glint although his face is in shadow, his back to the light, “No one yet. But I have plans for you; a name, a life. You will become better than what you were.”

She does not press further, she has a lifetime to be his someone else. She wants to be Abigail, just a moment longer even as she watches all that will be left of her fill a sad plastic bag. Her blood (and the blood of so many others) is all she leaves behind, her legacy. 

Hannibal perches on the counter next to the one she sits atop and waits as she is drained. Some poor, startled doe shot down and bled for her hide. And as the minutes tick on the world begins to tilt a little, blur a little but Abigail finds she doesn't mind. There is a distinct absence of fear in this state, where her hollow bird’s bones are an asset to lift her up, not something to be carved into a whistle so she will chirp pretty lies. Here, where edges are soft, she does not fear being cut so that every breath rattles in her throat, thick with droplets of blood. She does not even fear the monster in the room, waiting to gobble her up.

“That should be enough.” Her monster says in such a frighteningly precise imitation of a human as he cleans her up, “You’re going to feel light headed for a while, but it will pass. When we’re done I’ll take you somewhere to eat and rest but…”

He hesitates and his face shifts just slightly as if to actually convey regret with what he has to ask of her next. She believes him, even now. 

“There is just one more thing I need from you.” Hannibal hums, fingers brushing away strands of hair and stroking the outline of her ear. Gently, so gently, as if they have never smothered and strangled and stabbed. 

Abigail knows it won’t be the last time she hears those words fall from his poisonous mouth. Just one more thing, one more thing until he’s shaped her into something he needs and wants and can be proud of.

And she will let him. To survive. 

Her reply sticks to the roof of her mouth, hesitant from the blood loss but more than that. This single word will seal her Faustian pact.

“Anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted this to be much longer but I couldn't bring myself to even write him asking for her ear. I think she'd cry and I didn't want to write that because that kind of goes against what I am trying to convey in the beginning of her transformation. 
> 
> However I do plan on doing an actual full length Abigail centric story in the future so watch out for that. 
> 
> I am benedictable on tumblr if you're interested (not a Sherlock blog, despite the name)


End file.
